Love Bites

'What am I going to do?' Garet struggled against the ropes again, not caring that he had not yet managed to loosen them even a nanometre. The dishcloth was beginning to taste like old socks and he was getting hungry, at this rate he might swallow the dishcloth. At least then he could shout for help if he wasn't choking to death by then. Garet sighed and glanced down at the rope. It was tied tightly, binding his arms to him, just above his hands.

And then an idea struck Garet sharply on the head, so sharply that he was dumbstruck at the idiocy of not having thought of it before. He would have grinned had he not had a dishcloth in his mouth. His hands flared up with Fire Psynergy as he slowly burnt away the rope. It came away swiftly and fell to the ground, releasing Garet. Garet was so relieved that he fell face down into the ground. The now free Mars Adept pulled the dishcloth out of his mouth and whooped, getting to his feet and running away from the cruel tree he felt he had nearly starved to death on.

"I'M FREE!" Garet cheered, running past Kraden's cottage. He paused and glanced at the people giving him weird looks. Feizhi was in the process of walking away and she quickened her pace, deciding that he was surely insane and pitying Isaac for having a friend like him. Kraden went back to watching Alex fix the roof and Garet grinned smugly. He liked to see Alex roped into chores, so he promptly pointed at the longhaired Mercurian and started laughing. "HA HA HA HA!"

"I refuse to listen to idiot Mars Adepts who have nothing better to do than point at people and laugh like idiots," said Alex obstinately, adding a few more piles of thatch. "It is clear that they have nothing better to do and it is a pitiful waste of their life to do such a stupid thing, he will obviously get nowhere in life if all he does is laugh at people, which really is such a stupid waste of time and he needs something better to do so that he actually stood a chance of getting somewhere in life, not pointing at people and laughing."

"I refuse to listen to stupid Mercury Adepts who have nothing better to do than repeat what they say," said Garet smugly, turning and running off in the direction of his house, ignoring the curses Alex threw at his back. With any luck, Kay might not have found out that Garet had been absent and he might be able to complete his chores. If only that was possible. Then he would be safe!

Garet nervously tiptoed into the kitchen, closing the door behind him, and glanced at the table. To his horror it was completely wiped which meant that somebody else had done the chores for him. He really hoped it had not been Kay... maybe it had been somebody who would not tell Kay... yet, the house was quiet... too quiet for a house where seven people lived. Garet swallowed nervously and passed through the kitchen, into the living room which was also deserted.

Deciding he was safe, Garet went back into the kitchen-

And screamed.

"What... did... she... say?" Felix said finally once he had rediscovered his ability to speak. Okay, so maybe he hadn't been that shocked since he had been suspecting it might happen, but he was still shocked because he hadn't been expecting it so soon. A doofus as his brother in law? What a nightmare. "Did she say what I think she said?"

"If you think she said Garet was planning to propose to Jenna," Picard paused for suspense. "Then yes, that's what you heard and I heard also. Kay certainly is not a very nice girl is she? I'm sure glad I never got landed with siblings."

"My worst nightmare is coming true," Felix winced, looking so pitiful that somebody might actually almost feel sorry for him. "That doofus idiot is going to propose to my sister! It's far too early! It's a nightmare!"

"Not so loud, Felix," Picard warned the Venus Adept quickly. "Jenna's coming this way." Felix immediately shut up. He wasn't stupid enough to tell her that Garet was going to propose, that was Garet's job, not his.

"What's up with you two?" Jenna came to a stop in front of the two, looking at them suspiciously. Felix looked a litte bit too pale and Picard looked somewhat amused frighteningly enough. Jenna wondered if Picard was being sadistic or something. "What's with the sudden silence?"

"Um... seen Garet lately?" Felix asked weakly. "I wanted to talk to him about something."

"He's... tied to a tree," Jenna answered with a big smile on her face. "With a dishcloth in his mouth." The female Mars Adept turned and walked into her house, humming a happy, upbeat tune as if tying her boyfriend to a tree and stuffing a dishcloth in his mouth was completely normal and something to be proud of.

"Tied to a tree..." Picard shook his head wearily, fearing for Jenna's sanity. "Jenna tied Garet to a tree?"

"Which tree?" Felix wondered immediately. "I'm going to go and look for him."

"Surprise, surprise," Picard muttered as the dark haired Venus Adept set off to look for Garet. "Why didn't I see that one coming?"

"So, what should we do?" Mia sat at the table with Isaac on the opposite end and facing her. She glanced at the materials Isaac had produced, some sheets of paper and a couple of pens to use. "We're going to write? What good will that be?"

"It's simple," Isaac smiled. "We need to fix Ivan and Sheba up, but they won't do it if we simply ask, so I think we should try... tricking them into it somehow."

"Trickery?" Mia raised an eyebrow, surprised at Isaac's suggestion. It was a bit unlike him to do that sort of thing, even in plotting which they had not really done much of lately. "You sure about that?"

"Don't worry, Mia, nobody will be hurt by this, emotionally or physically," Isaac assured her. "Well, I'm not too sure about physically, who knows whether Ivan and Sheba secretly have psychotic fans in hiding who will beat up either of them for getting with the other or not?"

"Hope not," Mia grabbed a pen and smirked. "So, what do we do?"

"I think a nice meeting at night under the stars would be a good one," Isaac said quickly, a dreamy look in his eyes. "So we need to get Ivan and Sheba together in that kind of situation, make them think the other wants to see them there. You write a note from Sheba to Ivan, I'll do Ivan to Sheba."

"Isaac..." Mia's jaw dropped open. "You're amazing, seriously... I never took you to be the type of person to do that..."

"Heh," Isaac sweatdropped. "After all that plotting Garet and Jenna and Ivan and Sheba did, I thought we should try our best to upstage them-"

"So let's do it!" Mia exclaimed, quickly grabbing a sheet of paper and starting to write. Isaac proceeded to do so as well.

Somewhere else, Sheba wondered why she had a very bad feeling that someone was plotting and it was to do with her yet it didn't seem to be plotting against her.

Garet shrank against the wall as his worst nightmare came stalking towards in him the kitchen, shrouded in utter darkness, eyes gleaming bright red and accompanied with a malicious smile, long snaking tentacles protruding from that twisted skull, a forked tongue running over the pointed fangs, claws rising to strike at him, a long snaking tail thrashing against the floor and causing cracks. It snickered and prepared to strike him down.

"Garet? GARET! Wake up, you doofus!"

Garet winced as water was thrown in his face and sleepily awoke to find himself on the kitchen floor. He realised that he must have fainted, oh, and Kay was standing above him, looking very mad and threatening with a bucket in her hands.

"Ugh... I'm wet..." Garet complained, scrambling to his feet. "Um... the chores..."

"You didn't finish, did you?" Kay sneered, dropping the bucket which clattered on the floor. "You shirked your duties so you had to be punished. Remember the deal? If you didn't do a full week of chores, I would tell Felix that you were plotting to propose to Jenna."

"You didn't..." Garet paled, his eyes widening. If she had told Felix, then who knew what Felix was doing right now? He might even be making a Garet voodoo doll and sticking pins into it. Or maybe he was going to.

"Of course I did," Kay started cackling insanely, like someone who had way too much sugar. "Bwahahahahahaha..."

"Um, Sis?" Aaron appeared in the doorway, looking very tired. "Please could you stop laughing like that, you sound like a donkey with toothache..."

"Bye!" Garet hurriedly took the distraction as his chance to escape and fled out of the kitchen, slamming the door behind him and running for dear life while Kay proceeded to inflict her wrath on her youngest brother.

"Well, well, well," Ivan almost collided with the scared Mars Adept. "What's this? Garet running for his life?"

"Yeah, maybe I am," Garet sweatdropped. "Why aren't you with Sheba?"

"Sheba and I are not joined at the hip," Ivan said calmly. "Though it may seem that way sometimes to some of the more ignorant people, like you perhaps. So what is the reason for dear Garet to be running like mad on a fine day like this?"

"My life is in danger!" Garet croaked out hoarsely. "Felix is after me because he knows that I want to marry Jenna!"

"Ohhhh dear," Ivan tutted, pretending to be sympathetic. "That is a terrible shame. However..." A wicked glint came into his eyes. "I can help you!"

"Really?" Garet fell to his knees and clasped his hands together. "How?"

"I will be your bodyguard," said Ivan dramatically, his cloak flapping behind him. "On one condition!"

"What?" Garet asked, starting to get a little tired of conditions.

"Be my slave!" Ivan commanded.

"Uh..." Garet considered the options. He could let Felix kill him (which he merely assumed would happen) or he could let Ivan protect him. "Okay!"

"Deal?" Ivan held his hand out.

"Deal." Garet shook his hand. He was now Ivan's slave and Ivan would make sure that Garet did whatever he asked.

Isaac quietly crept into Ivan's room, commando style. He had encountered Kay and made an excuse about Garet having borrowed one of his books and not having given it back. Fortunately, Isaac survived the encounter and was now in the Jupiter Adept's room. He hurriedly rushed over to the bed and placed the note on the bedside table. It was fortunate that Ivan had not been in his room, otherwise the entire plan might have been ruined. Isaac went into Garet's room and stole one of his books for good measure, Kay might be suspicious if Isaac left the house without a book.

Mia went all the way to Jenna's house, looking out for Ivan or Sheba, and sighing in relief as she reached the house without encountering either of them. The room was not empty however as Jenna was in there, beating up a stuffed animal for reasons which Mia simply did not want to know.

"Hi, Jenna," Mia casually flipped the piece of paper onto Sheba's bed, trying to look very innocent. "What's up?"

"I-HATE-KAY!" Jenna yelled furiously. "SHE-BLACKMAILED-MY-BOYFRIEND-AND-HE-WON'T-TELL-ME-WHY! GAAAAHHHH!"

"I see," Mia said nervously, backing out of the room before Jenna blew something up. "Well, nice seeing you!" She hurriedly disappeared.

"What was that all about?" Jenna wondered, dropping the animal to the floor. "That was weird..."

Mia and Isaac reunited outside to let each other know how successfully their separate missions had gone and they performed a triumphant high-five, before embracing and acting in the way lovesick couples generally do for the benefit of Mudshippers around. Now they would just have to hope the rest of the plan went smoothly and the Jupiter Adepts did not suss them out.